Radio-tellurium

Abstract

PROF. MARCKWALD'S communication will probably be welcomed by the scientific world on account of the opportunity it affords of settling finally the disputed question as to the nature of the body named by him “radio-tellurium.” In my own mind, before I had read Prof. Marckwald's letter, a doubt still lingered as to the identity of the body with Madame Curie's polonium on account of the very definite statement made by Prof. Marckwald in his first communication on the subject that the activity of his body did not decay with the time. This to me was an insuperable difficulty in the way of considering the two bodies to be identical. The other reasons Prof. Marckwald has advanced—and it is not likely I should have ventured to express an opinion without having made myself acquainted with these reasons—seemed to arise out of a misconception on the part of Prof. Marckwald himself as to the nature of polonium. This point I hope to discuss later, but first I wish to deal with the, to me, important question of the constancy of the radio-activity of radio-tellurium. It is satisfactory to learn that accurate determinations are in progress. Everyone will understand that the results must be waited for. What I did not appreciate before reading Prof. Marckwald's letter was that his conclusion that the activity of radio-tellurium did not decay with time was merely an impression unsupported by actual measurements.